Sean Rhyan’s rise for Packers inspired Brian Gutekunst’s offseason moves
· Yahoo Sports
PHOENIX – After a flurry of transactions during the NFL’s free-agency period, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst took questions at the league’s owners meetings for the first time since turning over his roster.
Here are some quick snippets of the primary decisions he made in the past couple of weeks.
Visit betsport24.es for more information.
Packers impressed with Sean Rhyan’s continual improvement at center
When the Packers drafted Sean Rhyan in the third round four years ago, they believed the college left tackle had versatility to slide inside. They didn’t expect his home to wind up being center.
Rhyan spent most of his career taking snaps at guard, eventually becoming a full-time starter in 2024. He opened last season as a starting right guard again, but Rhyan surprised when he moved to center after Elgton Jenkins’ season ended with injury.
“When he took over initially when Elgton got hurt,” Gutekunst said, “playing center is not an easy thing to do. But I thought each week he got better. He’s such a stout, powerful man inside there, and the little intricacies of playing center, I thought he got better at each week. He really worked at his craft at that. He’s such a true professional.
“We knew he could play guard at a high level. Then as we went through the second half of the season, we realized he can play center at a very high level.”
Rhyan proved himself enough in nine starts at center to earn a three-year, $33 million contract before reaching free agency. His emergence was a reason the Packers were comfortable shedding salary cap with Jenkins’ release.
Now he’ll be expected to anchor the interior of the Packers offensive line.
“We were really excited to get him back,” Gutekunst said. “I think Jordan [Love] having that consistency there is going to be important for us to do some of the things we want to do.”
Brian Gutekunst not surprised to get fourth-round pick from Cowboys for Rashan Gary
If Gutekunst was surprised the Dallas Cowboys were willing to trade a fourth-round draft pick for Rashan Gary, a player the Packers might have released anyway, he certainly wasn’t saying in front of a camera.
Gutekunst made clear he believes Gary is a quality NFL player, despite the edge rusher’s inability to reach the quarterback for a single sack in his final 10 games last season. He even indicated Gary might not have been released without a trade partner, though his salary did not meet the lack of production.
“It was tough to part with Rashan because he’s such a good player,” Gutekunst said. “I just think where we’re going as a football team, it made a little bit of sense for us. Quite frankly, I think a guy with 60 pressures, seven-and-a-half sacks, a guy you can kind of count on consistently like that, there’s not a lot of those guys in the National Football League. He’s still a pretty young player, probably his best football is probably ahead of him. So not at all.
“We weren’t going to move on from him unless we were going to get something that made sense for us, and I think where we were headed as a football team, it made sense to do the deal with Dallas. They’re getting a really good player.”
Zaire Franklin already was on Brian Gutekunst’s radar
Before becoming a starting linebacker and, eventually, an All-Pro with the Indianapolis Colts, Zaire Franklin was first noticed by Gutekunst as a standout special-teamer.
It took Franklin three years to earn a full-time role in the Colts defense, so there was ample film for Gutekunst to study. Over time, Franklin made Gutekunst’s list of players the GM wanted to bring to Green Bay.
“We’ve liked Zaire for a while,” Gutekunst said. “Quite frankly, back when he was not starting in Indy in his first few years, he was a really good special-teams player. We kind of tried to acquire him then.”
Gutekunst finally got his chance this spring, trading Colby Wooden to the Colts for Franklin. The trade was in anticipation of Quay Walker’s departure in free agency, but Gutekunst said he was pleased adding a player long on his wish list.
“He’s been a really good player for a long time,” Gutekunst said, “obviously very good leader as well, captain there. So I think as we kind of went down and we realized it was going to be really tough to get Quay back, I wanted to make sure we had an answer at middle linebacker, particularly one that might have some veteran presence.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Sean Rhyan’s rise for Packers inspired Brian Gutekunst offseason moves